HARRISBURG, Pa.--Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds won the Hunt Night Reserve Championship, finishing just behind the Keswick Hunt Club on Monday, Oct. 12 at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show.
Cheshire Hunt Team (Photo by Andrew Ryback)The Keswick Hunt Club added another Hunt Night Championship to its record, winning for the fourth time in the past five years.
Along with the Reserve Championship, Tanya Emslie and Silverfern Owl of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds won the Chairman's Perpetual Trophy in the Field Hunter 36 & Over class.
Following Emslie's third-place finish in the Ladies’ Hunter Under Saddle, Emslie was presented with the Hunt Night Leading Lady Rider Award and the “Polly” Gingrich Caswell Perpetual Trophy.
In what may be the most prestigious class of the evening, Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds Team 2 won the Hunt Team class for the Potomac Hunt Challenge Trophy.
Sixteen hunt teams, made up of riders from across 10 different hunt clubs in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, participated in Monday evening’s Hunt Night competition.
THROUGHOUT the evening at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, riders participated in Field Hunter, Hunter Under Saddle and Hunt Team classes in order to earn individual ribbons and points toward the team championship.
Tanya Emslie on Siverfern Owl (Photo by Andrew Ryback)Representing the 1897-established Keswick Hunt Club were riders Rives, Darlene Murphy, Carly Mayer, Jill Wilson Anderson, Allison Smith, Olivia Smith and Giacomo Wilson.
“We’re really delighted to be champion again here,” said Keswick Hunt Club Vice President Sandy Rives. “A member sadly recently lost her life in a tragic horse accident, so we dedicate this to Anne Young. She was a great member and sponsor.”
“The competition was pretty stiff tonight,” said Anderson. “I think both over fences were very competitive — the older over fences especially.
“It’s always great to win at Harrisburg,” said Anderson. “It’s really down to just the Warrenton Horse Show and here now, so it’s nice that they keep supporting it since so few places still do Hunt Night. It’s great to still keep coming and doing it and they really welcome us to keep coming, which is awesome.”
The win in the Field Hunter 35 & Under class for the Max C. Hempt Perpetual Trophy went to Sarah Good of Bull Run Hunt on To Two Too for the second year in a row.
In the Gentlemen’s Hunter Under Saddle, Rives and BB Charm took the top prize for the Keswick Hunt Club of Virginia and were awarded the Rose Tree Perpetual Trophy.
This win, along with the Hunt Night Championship, is extra special for Rives as he, as well as Murphy, are retiring after this year.
“I am so delighted to win the hack class three years in a row and to be champion four out of the last five years here,” said Rives. “We’ve had a great team here. A lot of us have put a lot of effort into it. Darlene Murphy and I are finished; we are retiring after this year. We’ve done it for 35 years, and we’re so thrilled to go out like this.”
For the second year in a row, Bull Run Hunt’s Suzanne Chapman and Argos won the Ladies’ Hunter Under Saddle for the Betty Baldwin Meister Memorial Perpetual Trophy.
The evening also hosted the Ladies Side Saddle Championship for the PNHS Side Saddle Trophy which went to Kristin Schlachter riding Como MBF after winning the under saddle and over fences classes.
Christina Giacomini and Carmelo Starbuckle finished with the reserve championship after earning first place in the hack for the Sallie Jones Sexton Perpetual Trophy.
